A recent Newsweek article shares a statistic that 82% of gun owners in the U.S. are white and mostly live outside metropolitan areas. But 72% of gun-homicide victims are black or Hispanic and in the cities.
So, I’m wondering if we are asking the right questions or addressing the right problems in this debate about gun-control and the rights of gun-owners. And, is there a way to change the culture of this debate so we can better define and address the real issues around gun control and rights? It seems the issues in what is commonly referred to as “mid-America” are very different than those advocating for gun-control from the war zones of metropolitan America.
I am a gun-rights advocate, but I believe, as with anything that can cause such great harm so easily as a gun or a car, there needs to be limits on how one attains possession of such a thing. Never mind the fact that the 2nd Amendment relates to a “well regulated militia” within each state, not an unregulated posse in the secret hills and valleys outside of eye and ear shot of any government agency, state or federal. I realize the fear of a gun registry because that would make it too easy for the government to come in and confiscate in a fascist move similar to that of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich or many other regimes past and present. But, there has to be a limit on this in order to protect the innocent who living in these urban death zones. So, I am a gun-rights advocate with controls on how one gets a gun, protects who has access to that gun, and when one can use the gun. There has to be a middle ground here that will satisfy law-abiding gun owners and protect the innocent who are increasingly becoming victims of gun violence.